Researchers Claim Traditional TV Viewing Habit Is Gone, YouTube Is In

Young YouTube and Netflix addicts are unlikely to revert to more traditional media habits when they settle down, research has found, stoking debate over whether the core businesses of Sky and ITV face major upheaval in the coming years.

A survey of so-called millennials’ entertainment habits found that even when the under-35s generation move into their own homes and have families they do not revert to paying for TV packages and watching linear television.

The findings add weight to pundits who claim the popularity of online video on demand services among young people spells major disruption for traditional television, which has so far proven commercially resilient to the rise of internet services. The new research by LEK Consulting claimed YouTube and Netflix habits are likely to be fixed. It surveyed media consumption among millennials living with parents and those who have moved out, as well as those with and without children, and found a consistent pattern.